Interface and Functionality

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, then you’re probably aware that these two tablets have been updated with brand spanking new experiences. Visually, there’s more of a dramatic change with the presentation of iOS 7 with the iPad mini with Retina Display, seeing that it receives one fancy new design overhaul that comes to life with its translucency, layered design concept, and fancy new animations. At the core, however, iOS 7 continues to retain the same principle of having a very simplistic operation – making it easy for first time users to navigate around.

UI of the Apple iPad mini 2

We’ve recently received the new Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Nexus 7, but to tell you the truth, it doesn’t deviate much from the look and feel we saw with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean – albeit, it does come with some new features. Nevertheless, the vanilla experience has its own set of perks that prove its depth over its rival. And with that folks, it goes to show why the platform continues to provide us with a deeper level of functionality.

In the multi-tasking department, each tablet employs its own unique way of executing the task at hand – so we don’t necessarily find one implementation that’s superior over the other. Sticking firm to its process, the Nexus 7 has its multi-tasking menu that allows us to quickly jump in-and-out of different apps at a moment’s notice. Oppositely, we like what the iPad mini has to offer with its various 5-finger gesture operations – like the swipe one that offers quick app switching.

Notifications are handled in a very similar manner, but yet again, Android’s baked-in secondary features overpowers the iPad mini. Indeed, it’s nice that the two populate all notifications in one central, unified area that’s accessible at any time, but we like how we’re presented with different functions with Android’s notification panel – like how we can archive emails, share screen shots, and much more.

With the introduction of the updated software experiences, we naturally see a bump with their respective digital voice assistant services – Siri and Google Now. Needless to say, they’re smarter than ever before, but despite all of its advancements, Siri still trails Google Now. Specifically, it just seems that Google’s offering is basically more aware than its rival.

There are several notable things that makes the experience on the Nexus 7 so much more encompassing than the iPad mini. In addition to new features such as Tap & Pay and wireless printing, it’s just the simple things on the Nexus 7 that shows its value. For example, the option to have more than one user is a pleasant thing to find on the Nexus 7, which makes for better organization if the tablet is used by many people in the household.

However, the iPad mini with Retina Display continues to have apps that are more optimized for tablet – so they make great use of the added real estate. Android is home to several tablet-centric apps too, but in comparison, they don’t seem to be as polished as its iOS 7 counterparts. Regardless of that, the gap between them is closing with each passing day.

Processor and Memory

They’re fast, like really fast. Thanks to their beefy processors, these two prized tablets perform smoothly with various operations on the surface. Diving deeper and meticulously looking at them, we realize a slightly more elevated level of snappiness seen with the iPad mini’s 64-bit based dual-core 1.3GHz Apple A7 processor. Well, it’s still pretty snappy with the Nexus 7’s quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, but it’s just a notch below the level of snappiness put forth by its esteemed competitor. Honestly though, most people would barely be fazed by the difference, since it’s so miniscule to the eye – well, unless you’re looking very hard.

There are more storage configurations with the iPad mini with Retina Display, as it’s available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities – giving consumers more variety, obviously. On the other hand, we only have between 16GB or 32GB to choose from with the Nexus 7. Without any way of easily supplementing their capacities, you’ll really need to think long and hard what best suits your needs.

Internet and Connectivity

These tablets make the web browsing experience so much more pleasurable, especially when they produce the same level of performance. Specifically, they include speedy page loads, instant page rendering on the fly, and silky smooth navigational controls. However, the Chrome browsers boasts several different features that help to complement the experience – like quick tab switching via gestures, the ability to search for keywords, and a diverse set of ways to share web pages.

Browser of the Apple iPad mini 2

Web browsing on the Nexus 7

Expected to sell like hot cakes, there are variants that pack along 4G LTE connectivity for constant data access when Wi-Fi is lacking. Beyond that, they pretty much are home to the usual set of connectivity features – such as aGPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. However, the Nexus 7 is stuffed with an NFC chip to make sharing between devices a lot easier to juggle – albeit, iOS 7’s AirDrop feature offers almost the same function.

Um, the world doesn't revolve around Apple. There have been plenty of Android tablets around the same size. Galaxy Tab 7.7, Toshiba Excite 7.8 or 7.9, Motorola Xyboard 8.2, and I am sure there are plenty others in Asia somewhere. The Tab 7.7 and Excite are made out of metal too.

The design of the iPad mini and the regular iPad is a much better design than that of Android. The iPad mini has a whole lot more screen space than the skinny narrow Nexus and most of the other androids.

For ones get used to 7 inch, then they can move to 8 inch.
I'm using Nook HD+9 inch, and it's worth any penny. I'm planning to upgrade to Kindle HDX, but if Nook still continues to sell tablets I will buy a Nook HD+ successor. 9 inch is so sweet that my fingers are at the middle back of the tablet when holding, so even its weight is more than 500g but I still feel more comfortable than 478g iPad Air

i think that the 8.2" of the Motorola Xyboard was the sweet spot for me because it was still sizeable while not having that width problem they talked about with the Mini in the comparison and it could also fit in a back pocket.

I think 7" is perfect but on googles tablets its not really 7" as some is taken up by the on screen buttons and status bar hence I think if they increase the size to a 7.5” with similar bezels than I would be happy. That way even with on screen buttons you still would get at least 7” usable screen. The nexus 7 even the original IMO is perfect size in terms of weight and size and being able to hold it in 1 hand comfortably. I can currently hold the nexus 7 from just the lower bottom corner without any issues. Size is all personal so there isn't really going f to ever be the perfect size for all. I wouldn't complain if it was 8" as long as they keep it quite small and light. Hopefully with the new immersive mode in KitKat, more apps will eventually use it so this on screen issue of mine wont be an issue in the future.

The Mini 2 is nice but badly overpriced. At $300 I'd CONSIDER getting it over the now-$200 N7'13, still you can do a lot of things with your saved $100, say put it next to your currect phone sale price and get the Nexus 5, and you have two of the best devices out there and still resources to buy nice things for your family.

Otherwise credit to Apple for keeping the iPad's build quality, thin light design and including the retina display and fast A7 chip. It's just that at 7-8", iOS's tablet app advantage is not really an advantage, so is there a reason you should still go with the $400 product?

I've got a Nexus 7 2013 32GB and iPad Mini w/Retina 64GB. Love them both, but they are both unique in their uses. I carry the iPad Mini with me to work, and the Nexus is my home tablet. Gaming gets a nod to both, but I do like the iPad a little bit better since it has Infinity Blade III and XCom.

Honestly, I would hate to live in a world where I would have to choose between the two. I'm just glad that I didn't have to. :-)

Yup. Pricing is the hurdle for the mini. KK combined with the N7s hardware specs and price make for a very compelling value proposition. There is just too much of a price gap that is increasingly harder to overcome for Apple.

These comparison pictures really demonstrate how much more useful the iPad Mini screen is in comparison to the unusually long and skinny Nexus 7 screen. As the above poster said, it's what's inside that counts.

Not at all. The Mini is too fat width wise. The long and skinny Nexus 7 is similar to the long and skinny iphone 5. Works just as well for a tablet, especially when browsers like Dolphin have auto text reflow. For everything else, just put in in landscape.....

Ipad mini is equal on almost everything except the quirky OS and the cringe-inducing 4:3 aspect ratio. Both are subjective however, and I'm sure there's a market for the mini just like there was for that gawdawful LG phablet. The fact that you can get two N7's for the price of one mini is impossible to overcome for any neutral, unbiased consumer. The good news for your Apple people is that the boutique market for iAnything continues to be a strong, though ever-smaller niche percentage of the phone or tablet market. The N7 is starting to look like a high-end tablet with competition from the lower-end selling for $59 for a dual-core unit with an inferior screen. But people don't see brands like Samsung, LG and Motorola as cheap knock-offs, so soon their minds will associate a quality tablet as being in the $200 range for a small and $300 for a larger tablet, and that will send the iPad packing to the same market share the phones now enjoy. Remember, the growing demand for tablets is in the Pacific rim and third world, and the vast majority of those folks are extremely price conscious.

I bought the Nexus 7 for media consumption because of the wide screen. Android is so laggy even with KitKat compared to the iPad it just drives me crazy. The widgets just make it sooo much slower. I only have Gmail and weatherbug widgets but they are slooow to load. It feels like the quad core Nexus is running on one core.
Lack of apps, slow real world speed and awkward shape for anything but videos keep me from using the Nexus for anything else.

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